THE NEW HOME FOR FRIENDLESS WOMEN.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 6694, 30 September 1882, Page 3

THE NEW HOME FOR FRIENDLESS WOMEN.

The formal opening of the new. Hqme for Friendless Women in Hauson-street,; New town, took place at 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon. Owing to the impossibility, of accommodating more than a limited member ofj ladies and gentlemen in any onejroo.m in the institution, the invitations were confined to-the mem*, bers of the Committee of Management jo£-,the, Home, the Committee and officers of the Ladies Christian Association, and - several gentlemen immediately connected with the undertaking. Sir James Prendergast, ActingGovernor and Chief Justice, who-had kindly consented to preside on the occasion/was accompanied by Lady Prendergast. Among the gentlemen present were noticed .the, Ven. Archdeacon Thorpe, the Rev. J. Paterson, Mr ■C. P. Powles, and Mr B. Smith. The company having assembled in the Board room, The Yea. Archdeacon Thorpe opened the proceedings by remarking that the institution, was one that deserved the support of, 1 every ■one. Its object was to provide a resting-place for friendless women, and to give them kindly help and counsel. They were likely toreceive a good many young women from the Old Country, arriving here without homes or relatives, and it most be a great booh to them to find when they came hero a place where they would be received with Christian kindness, and those who were prepared to receive , them in the spirit of their Master and give them help and sympathy. The Yen. Archdeacon then offered up a abort prayer, and read the parable of the “ Good Samaritan,” after which the; 197th hymn was sung. . , , ; Sir James Prendergast said he had been invited to be present at the opening of the new building which had been obtained by the Committee of the Society, and he was very pleased ta attend. He believed bo was right inlaying that the institution had . been established no longer than three years ago, or scarcely. *o much. The object for which; the Society was started was found to be one that had been properly taken in hand, and it had been found by experience that there was really need for such an institution. No, doubt most of them felt, in considering snob a question as the establishment of snob an institution, that there was an amount of risk of being before the time. Experience had, he believed, shown that the ladies and gentlemen, who bad taken in hand this,business were pot before the time, but had promoted the establishment of something that was, absolutely' needed;, ;Theobjects of the institution, .as he understood them, were mainly /.andprincipally to provide a home and Christian comfort and counsel for those women, whomight- need ■ a temporary/ home. Among the.class requiring such help jt would, readily occur to them were women young and old, who necessarily left .the bos- , pitals and other such .restitutions after having become cured of their ,'ailipents, and who IS?’ a timeneededsome kind of rest and^strengthening. ; before theyyvere out 'the desire they might be expected, to have of maintaining themselves. The' Home/ he understood, had that object'in view, and provided an asylum .iotVwcb,' i" 7“,' another class—persons-in domestic Service, persons engaged in serving/in shojM,' Or, perhaps, working in Eomo of out factories, j How?

ever prosperous times might be, cases would arise which would make such a Home as the one they were now in of very great value. It might be that iu most cases females engaged in domestic service seldom left one place before another was ready for them. This was very much the case just now, and prevent any great demand on the institution from cases of that kind ; still, even in such times as this, the value of such an institution was apparent. Ho had stated that the main principles of the institution were to provide a temporary home ; but he did not understand that that was the only object. There must be cases in which it mast offer friendless women much more than temporary aid, for there were many such who must find a permanent home somewhere. If such persona had no relatives, and no home to go to, the institution, under its constitution, could admit them. A subject of very great difficulty was approached in considering the objects of the institution as to whether persons should or should not bo admitted who had, through misconduct of their own, or indirectly through the misconduct of other persons, forfeited any claim on their fellow citizens for assistance. As he understood it, the constitution of the Home did not prevent the admission of such persons, so long as they had not become members of what might be called the criminal class. There might bo cases where the Committee who conducted the institution must feel the greatest difficulty in determining whether a person should or should not, upon this account, be prohibited from partaking of the advantages of the Home, If, a£ter properly considering such case?, they felt themselves in a position to admit them; it coaid easily be believed that trouble might ensue. It was impossible to touch such cases without being to some extent involved in the difficulty which must necessarily attend them. He had said these few words with something la his mind which was, no doubt, in the minds of the ladies and gentlemen present. A case had occurred in which there had been some indiscretion on the part of the matron, and the matter had been brought prominently before the public. In the opinion of some persona, too much bad been made of it ; but it must be admitted that there bad been some indiscretion, but that there was more, no person really considering the circumstances would conclude. With these few observations as to the objects of the institution, he had to ask them to bear in mind what .a debt of gratitude the public must owe to the ladies and gentlemen—the ladies principally—for they had mainly; established and conducted the Home, anc brought it to its present prosperous condition. , It was only two or three years ago that it was determined to hire a house and commence the operations ot this Society. That house ;was found to be inadequate for its want of space, and from the absence of the conveniences necessary for the proper conduct of such a Society. An appeal was then made to the public; and had, he believed, been sufficiently responded to. Before the new building was erected it was felt,.that persona whs,were admitted should, to some extent, be able to earn their own living even while being maintained in the institution,, and of course proper appliances: were necessary. Tfasre were many reasons for the Society seeking to have a building ofi its own. It had been assisted by the . Government out of the public funds, and the result had been that it had been -able to appropriate to the object of building,; furnishing, and providing the necessary appliances the sum of £l3oo.That be regarded as a very satisfactory sum. No efforts had been msj.de to appeal very persistently to the. public, anjd the subscriptions, he, believed, bad been niainly voluntary. The result must be eminently satisfactory to those who, had taken up the work. He hoped before they left they would have an opportunity of looking at the building, and thought they had reason to be indebted to the architect for drafting and designing it. All their efforts, from the commencement to the present, had been eminetnly satisfactory, and he took the opportunity afforded him of thanking the ladies and gentlemen who had so, well carried out what he believed to be the desires of the public in this matter. (Applause.) , Mr C. P. Powlea suggested that perhaps Sir James Prendergast and those present might like to look over the building.' He also wished to propose a vote of thanks to Sir James Prendergast for his presence that day—(hear, hear) —and for accepting the office of trustee. Tho piece of, land upon which the building was erected was leased to certain trustees for the Ladies* Association, and Sir James had.agreed to, become, one. of them. I The Rev. J. Paterson seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously.Sir James Prendergast thanked those present.for the kindness done, him in passing such a; resolution, though he did nob need it. It .was* a pleasure to himself and his wife to come and see such a building opened, | This ended the formal proceedings, most of those present inspecting the, institution before they left. The Home is not at all a pretentious; building, but rather bears resemblance, to a twostoried private residence of the better class. On the ground floor are the .Board-room, dining-room, hospital ward, kitchen, larder, storerooms, scullery, and rooms for the accommodation of such inmates as it is not considered desirable to allow access to the others. On the first 1 floor there are nine dormitories. The architect Is Mr Turnbull. There jare at the present time seven women in the Heme,